Seventy unique years of the Botanical Garden of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice

Abstract

The Botanical Garden in Košice (BG) was established owing to the initiative of Dr. Jozef Rácz on 5th May 1950 as the Botanical Institute of the University of Agricultural and Forest Engineering (VŠPLI). Later it belonged to the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Pedagogical Institute, until it became a part of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (UPJŠ) in 1964. From its beginning it has played a role of a scientific and pedagogical institution. A lot of plants were planted in the originally almost bare area, greenhouses were built, which were open on 14th October 1958. At that time, they belonged among the largest ones in Central Europe. In 1969, the administrative building was completed. At present, the BG is a protected area with a total of 30 ha, greenhouses on an area of 3,200 m2 and more than 4,000 species, subspecies, and cultivars of plants. It is thus the largest BG in Slovakia with the richest collection of cacti and cycads in Slovakia, as well as with various unique plant species from around the world. The main scope of the activities of the BG is the scientific research aimed at the concentrating and studying of the gene pool of endangered and common species. Further important activities comprise direct support of higher education and various activities within the framework of education at primary and secondary schools, as well as the support of natural history, ecological and cultural knowledge of all visitors.